Multidimensional Inventory for Religious/Spiritual Well-Being (MI-RSWB)

Abstract

The Multidimensional Inventory for Religious/Spiritual Well-Being (MI-RSWB) is an empirically validated psychometric instrument developed by Human-Friedrich Unterrainer and colleagues at the University of Graz to assess the multidimensional nature of religious and spiritual well-being in clinical and non-clinical populations. Comprising 48 self-report items across six distinct theoretical dimensions, the instrument measures General Religiosity (GR), Forgiveness (FO), Hope Immanent (HI), Connectedness (CO), Hope Transcendent (HT), and Experiences of Sense and Meaning (SM). Each dimension is indexed by eight items evaluated on a fully anchored 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (“totally disagree”) to 6 (“totally agree”). The structural architecture of the MI-RSWB allows for the computation of six subscale scores, two second-order domain scores representing Religious Well-Being (RWB) and Spiritual Well-Being (SWB), and an overarching Total Religious/Spiritual Well-Being composite score. Psychometric investigations across diverse cultural and language cohorts—including German, English, Farsi, and Italian validation samples—demonstrate robust internal consistency, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients typically ranging from α = .75 to α = .96 for the subscales and exceeding α = .90 for the total score. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses support both an oblique six-factor primary model and a hierarchical structure with two second-order factors reflecting immanent/existential and transcendent/theistic orientations. The scale exhibits extensive convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validity, demonstrating significant negative correlations with psychopathology, depressive symptomatology, psychiatric distress, and neuroticism, while correlating positively with subjective well-being, life satisfaction, psychological resilience, and adaptive coping mechanisms. In clinical neuropsychiatry, psychosomatics, and existential psychology, the MI-RSWB serves as a gold-standard diagnostic and evaluative tool for investigating the salutogenic and protective functions of personal faith, transcendental beliefs, and existential coherence.

Keywords

Multidimensional Inventory for Religious/Spiritual Well-Being, MI-RSWB, religious well-being, spiritual well-being, existential psychology, psychometrics, clinical psychology, Hope Immanent, Hope Transcendent, Connectedness

Authors

The conceptualization, item development, and empirical validation of the Multidimensional Inventory for Religious/Spiritual Well-Being were spearheaded by Human-Friedrich Unterrainer, in long-standing collaboration with Austrian and international researchers in psychiatry, neuropsychology, and theology:

• Human-Friedrich Unterrainer, Ph.D. – Professor of Psychology, Center for Integrative Addiction Research (Grüner Kreis Society, Vienna, Austria); Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapeutic Medicine, Medical University of Graz; and Department of Religious Studies, University of Vienna. Email: [email protected].
• Andreas Fink, Ph.D. – Professor of Psychology, Institute of Psychology, Karl-Franzens-University of Graz, Austria.
• Karl-Heinz Ladenhauf, Ph.D. – Institute of Pastoral Theology and Pastoral Psychology, Karl-Franzens-University of Graz, Austria.
• Joanna Collicutt, Ph.D. – Department of Psychology, Oxford Brookes University, and Harris Manchester College, University of Oxford, United Kingdom.
• Oliver Nelson, M.Sc. – Department of Psychology, Oxford Brookes University, United Kingdom.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Multidimensional Inventory for Religious/Spiritual Well-Being is to provide an empirically rigorous, standardized, and clinically differentiated assessment of the psychological parameters governing religious faith, spiritual experience, and existential coherence. Historically, empirical research in the psychology of religion and spirituality was hindered by one-dimensional operationalizations, often conflating active church attendance, dogmatic orthodoxy, or institutional observance with internal subjective well-being. The MI-RSWB was explicitly designed to overcome these historical limitations by separating immanent (horizontal, secular-existential) markers of well-being from transcendent (vertical, theistic, or metaphysical) dimensions.

The scale serves multiple clinical, diagnostic, and academic research purposes:

• Clinical Psychiatric Assessment and Diagnosis: In psychiatric settings, the MI-RSWB enables clinicians to gauge how patients utilize spiritual beliefs and existential convictions when navigating affective disorders, severe stress, addiction, and somatic illnesses. Deficits in specific subscales, such as low Forgiveness or high death-related anxiety on Hope Transcendent, frequently highlight psychological vulnerabilities and existential distress requiring psychotherapeutic intervention.
• Addiction Medicine and Rehabilitation: A significant body of research utilizing the MI-RSWB investigates substance use disorders. Because recovery frameworks (e.g., 12-Step programs) frequently emphasize spiritual renewal and higher-power connectedness, the inventory allows researchers and therapists to track spiritual development systematically and evaluate its buffering effect against relapse.
• Palliative Care and Psycho-Oncology: In end-of-life care, existential questions regarding mortality, post-mortem continuity, personal legacy, and interpersonal reconciliation become paramount. The MI-RSWB provides an ethical, patient-centered diagnostic framework to assess hope, dread, and peaceful acceptance without imposing rigid denominational paradigms.
• Cross-Cultural and Transdenominational Research: Because the subscales capture broad subjective experiences (e.g., feelings of awe in nature, interpersonal forgiveness, emotional peace) alongside theistic devotion, the MI-RSWB functions effectively across traditional religious denominations (Christianity, Islam, Judaism), non-theistic spiritual systems (Buddhism, universal pantheism), and agnostic or secular existential orientations.

Psychological Construct

The construct of Religious/Spiritual Well-Being (RSWB) as conceptualized by Unterrainer and colleagues refers to the subjective, emotional, and cognitive affirmation that one’s life is anchored in meaningful existential structures, functional interpersonal relationships, and an authentic connection to a transcendent, sacred, or overarching reality. The MI-RSWB operationalizes this construct across six distinct dimensions of eight items each:

1. General Religiosity (GR)

General Religiosity evaluates the traditional vertical dimension of faith, specifically assessing an individual’s personal relationship with a personal God or divine entity, reliance on divine intervention during crises, and participation in religious rituals. High scores reflect secure attachment to the divine, regular communion or prayer, and a deeply felt sense that faith offers solace and protection (e.g., “My faith gives me a feeling of security,” “With God’s help, I will be happy once again”). It captures classic intrinsic religiosity as outlined by Gordon Allport.

2. Forgiveness (FO)

The Forgiveness dimension measures the emotional, cognitive, and behavioral willingness to release resentment, rancor, vengeance, and malice following interpersonal betrayal or harm. Most items in this subscale are negatively worded (reverse-scored) to evaluate pathological grudges, vindictiveness, and unforgiveness (e.g., “If somebody hurts me, I usually try to get revenge,” “The thought of seeing my enemies suffer satisfies me”). High subscale scores denote emotional maturity, empathy, interpersonal benevolence, and psychological liberation from past transgressions.

3. Hope Immanent (HI)

Hope Immanent indexes a forward-looking, secular-existential optimism regarding one’s future biographical trajectory, personal agency, and worldly aspirations. It measures self-efficacy, constructive outlooks, and resilience without invoking supernatural or metaphysical assistance (e.g., “I view the future with optimism,” “I think that things will improve in the future,” “I believe that the future holds exciting challenges for me”). It assesses an individual’s perceived capacity to overcome worldly crises through personal perseverance and life optimism.

4. Connectedness (CO)

The Connectedness subscale evaluates an individual’s subjective experience of universal harmony, mystical immersion, transpersonal integration, and metaphysical continuity. It assesses feelings of oneness with nature, cosmic energies, and trans-individual entities (e.g., “I have experienced the feeling of being absorbed into something greater,” “I have had experiences through which I have realized that nothing ever dies,” “There are people with whom I feel a supernatural connection”). This construct aligns closely with transpersonal psychology and unitive states of consciousness.

5. Hope Transcendent (HT)

Hope Transcendent addresses human mortality, metaphysical expectations regarding post-mortem existence, and existential death anxiety. In this inventory, all eight items are reverse-coded indicators of death terror, separation anxiety regarding loved ones, dread of ultimate oblivion, and fear of divine retribution (e.g., “All hope ends with death,” “I am terrified of being forgotten after my death,” “I am scared about what will happen to me after my death”). Consequently, after reverse-scoring, high scores represent an absence of death anxiety, equanimity in the face of finitude, and serene confidence in transcendent continuity.

6. Experiences of Sense and Meaning (SM)

Rooted in Viktor Frankl’s logotherapy, Experiences of Sense and Meaning measures an individual’s capacity to perceive daily existence, aesthetic encounters, interpersonal relationships, and deep emotions as profoundly purposeful and coherent (e.g., “I have experienced true (authentic) feelings,” “In my experience, it is possible for me to become so involved in something that I forget everything around me,” “I have had one or more experiences in which the meaning of life became clear to me”). It captures experiential and attitudinal values, peak experiences, and flow states.

Theoretical Framework

The MI-RSWB is theoretically grounded at the intersection of existential psychology, salutogenesis, and contemporary psychologies of religion. Its conceptual architecture integrates several landmark psychological paradigms:

1. Frankl’s Logotherapy and Existential Analysis

A central theoretical pillar of the instrument is Viktor Frankl’s thesis that the “will to meaning” is humanity’s primary motivational drive. According to Frankl, psychological decompensation and noogenic neuroses emerge when an individual falls into an existential vacuum characterized by meaninglessness, despair, and aimlessness. The Experiences of Sense and Meaning (SM) and Hope Immanent (HI) subscales directly operationalize Frankl’s notion that meaning can be discovered through creative output, experiential values (e.g., authentic connection with nature and art), and attitudinal choices in the face of unavoidable suffering.

2. Pargament’s Theory of Religious Coping

Kenneth Pargament’s transactional framework of religious coping posits that religion and spirituality can serve as either a vital protective buffer (positive religious coping) or a destructive source of distress (negative religious coping). The MI-RSWB mirrors this duality. While General Religiosity and Connectedness reflect positive spiritual coping (collaborative divine attachment, unitive trust), the reverse-scored items of Hope Transcendent capture religious/existential struggle, neurotic dread of judgment, and existential isolation.

3. Allport’s Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Religious Orientation

The scale incorporates Gordon Allport’s seminal distinction between intrinsic religiosity (living one’s faith as a master motive) and extrinsic religiosity (using religion for social status or personal safety). The General Religiosity items deliberately probe intrinsic internalization—finding genuine joy, serenity, and ethical responsibility in one’s communion with the divine—rather than external social conformity.

4. Terror Management Theory (TMT)

The conceptualization of the Hope Transcendent (HT) subscale aligns closely with Terror Management Theory (Greenberg, Pyszczynski, & Solomon). TMT posits that the uniquely human awareness of inevitable mortality creates existential terror, which individuals manage through cultural worldviews and literal or symbolic immortality. The MI-RSWB explicitly quantifies how effectively an individual’s metaphysical beliefs buffer against debilitating death anxiety and fear of non-being.

Validity

The MI-RSWB has undergone comprehensive psychometric evaluation verifying its construct, convergent, discriminant, and criterion-related validity across healthy, clinical, student, and geriatric samples internationally.

Construct and Convergent Validity

Empirical studies demonstrate that MI-RSWB subscales correlate predictably with established psychological and psychopathological constructs:

• Subjective Well-Being and Life Satisfaction: Total MI-RSWB, Hope Immanent, and Sense and Meaning demonstrate strong positive correlations with the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) (typically r = .45 to .65, p < .001) and the WHO-5 Well-Being Index.
• Personality Structure (Big Five / NEO-FFI): Psychometric evaluations by Unterrainer et al. (2010) show that Hope Immanent and Experiences of Sense and Meaning correlate positively with Extraversion (r = .38 to .48) and Openness to Experience (r = .30 to .42). Forgiveness correlates strongly with Agreeableness (r = .45 to .55). Conversely, Neuroticism exhibits significant negative correlations with Total RSWB, Hope Immanent, and Forgiveness (r = -.35 to -.52).
• Depression and Anxiety: Subscales measuring Hope Immanent, Forgiveness, and Hope Transcendent correlate negatively with the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), confirming that existential hope and the capacity to release interpersonal malice act as potent psychological buffers against affective distress.

Discriminant Validity

The MI-RSWB demonstrates clear empirical independence from pure social desirability, cognitive intelligence, and socioeconomic status. Furthermore, confirmatory analyses consistently establish that General Religiosity (GR) and Hope Immanent (HI) represent distinct constructs: individuals scoring exceptionally low on traditional religiousness frequently score high on immanent optimism and existential meaning, demonstrating that the scale does not conflate secular humanism with existential despair.

Criterion and Clinical Validity

The instrument possesses pronounced diagnostic sensitivity in psychiatric epidemiology:

• Addiction Rehabilitation: Unterrainer et al. (2013) demonstrated that patients undergoing clinical treatment for poly-substance dependence scored markedly lower across all MI-RSWB dimensions—most notably Forgiveness and Hope Immanent—compared to healthy matched control populations. Longitudinal increases in MI-RSWB scores during therapeutic intervention correlated significantly with reduced cravings and lower relapse rates.
• Psychotic Disorders: Studies comparing patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders against depressive and neurotypical cohorts revealed distinct spiritual profiles. Patients with schizophrenia exhibited high scores on Connectedness accompanied by marked deficits in General Religiosity and Sense and Meaning, reflecting the presence of unitive/magical ideation detached from functional cognitive and relational frameworks.

Reliability

The Multidimensional Inventory for Religious/Spiritual Well-Being exhibits high internal consistency and temporal stability across diverse language adaptations and demographic samples:

Internal Consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha)

The initial standardization samples reported by Unterrainer (2005, 2010, 2012) established robust internal consistency metrics for the total score and the six subscales:

• General Religiosity (GR): α = .96 (demonstrating excellent, highly homogeneous scale cohesion).
• Forgiveness (FO): α = .84.
• Hope Immanent (HI): α = .82.
• Connectedness (CO): α = .82.
• Hope Transcendent (HT): α = .75.
• Experiences of Sense and Meaning (SM): α = .77.
• Total MI-RSWB Score: α = .91 to .94 across validation samples.

In the cross-cultural validation of the English version (MI-RSWB-E; Unterrainer, Nelson, Collicutt, & Fink, 2012) conducted among British university students, the total reliability remained strong at α = .89, with individual subscales demonstrating comparable internal consistency: GR (α = .94), FO (α = .81), HI (α = .83), CO (α = .76), HT (α = .73), and SM (α = .74). Similarly, the Farsi adaptation (Alilu et al., 2011; Bahrami et al., 2014) confirmed total score reliability of α = .92, indicating cross-linguistic psychometric invariance.

Test-Retest Reliability

Temporal stability evaluations conducted across intervals ranging from 4 to 12 weeks have yielded test-retest correlation coefficients (r_tt) between .78 and .88 for the six subscales, with the Total RSWB score demonstrating stability coefficients exceeding r_tt = .86, demonstrating that the MI-RSWB captures enduring personality-level orientations alongside mood-sensitive well-being states.

Factor Analysis

The internal latent architecture of the MI-RSWB has been rigorously evaluated using both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA).

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA)

Initial structural investigations using Principal Axis Factoring (PAF) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with oblique (Promax) and orthogonal (Varimax) rotations yielded a clean, replicable six-factor solution accounting for over 56% to 62% of the total variance across standardization cohorts. All 48 items exhibited primary factor loadings > .45 onto their designated theoretical dimensions, with cross-loadings remaining low (< .25). The six extracted factors mapped onto General Religiosity, Forgiveness, Hope Immanent, Connectedness, Hope Transcendent, and Experiences of Sense and Meaning.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)

Structural equation modeling (SEM) has compared several competing topological models:

• Unidimensional Model: A single general well-being factor showed poor empirical fit (χ²/df > 4.8, RMSEA > .095, CFI < .70), demonstrating that religious/spiritual well-being is not a monolithic construct.
• Six-Factor Oblique Model: The first-order six-factor model yielded satisfactory fit indices across German and English datasets (χ²/df = 1.82 to 2.15, RMSEA = .048 to .055, SRMR = .051, CFI = .92 to .94, TLI = .91 to .93), confirming the discriminant validity of the six subscales.
• Hierarchical Two-Factor Model: To reflect theoretical assumptions separating secular-existential and metaphysical orientations, researchers tested a higher-order model comprising: (1) Religious Well-Being (RWB), subsuming General Religiosity and Hope Transcendent; and (2) Spiritual Well-Being (SWB), subsuming Hope Immanent, Forgiveness, Connectedness, and Experiences of Sense and Meaning. This hierarchical model demonstrated excellent fit metrics (χ²/df = 1.94, RMSEA = .051, CFI = .93, TLI = .92), confirming that the instrument successfully measures both distinct sub-facets and broader overarching existential domains.

Instrument / Measurement Tool

The MI-RSWB is a standardized, self-report psychometric test designed for individual or group administration in paper-and-pencil or digital formats.

• Construct Assessed: Multidimensional Religious and Spiritual Well-Being.
• Target Population: Adolescents and adults aged 16 and older; applicable to general, clinical, geriatric, and cross-cultural cohorts.
• Item Count: 48 items distributed equally across six subscales (8 items per subscale).
• Response Format: 6-point Likert scale:
  • 1 = Totally disagree
  • 2 = Disagree
  • 3 = Rather disagree
  • 4 = Rather agree
  • 5 = Agree
  • 6 = Totally agree
• Subscale Breakdown:
  • General Religiosity (GR): Items 1, 7, 13, 19, 25, 31, 37, 43
  • Forgiveness (FO): Items 2*, 8*, 14*, 20*, 26*, 32*, 38*, 44
  • Hope Immanent (HI): Items 3, 9, 15, 21, 27, 33, 39*, 45
  • Connectedness (CO): Items 4, 10, 16, 22, 28, 34, 40, 46
  • Hope Transcendent (HT): Items 5*, 11*, 17*, 23*, 29*, 35*, 41*, 47*
  • Experiences of Sense and Meaning (SM): Items 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48
• Reverse-Scoring Instructions: Items designated with an asterisk (*) must be inverted prior to calculating subscale and total scores (i.e., 1 → 6, 2 → 5, 3 → 4, 4 → 3, 5 → 2, 6 → 1). The 16 reverse-scored items are:
  • FO subscale: Items 2, 8, 14, 20, 26, 32, 38
  • HI subscale: Item 39
  • HT subscale: Items 5, 11, 17, 23, 29, 35, 41, 47
• Scoring and Index Calculation:
  • Subscale Scores: Computed by summing the raw responses (after inversion) of the 8 constituent items (range: 8 to 48 per subscale) or by calculating the subscale mean (range: 1.0 to 6.0).
  • Religious Well-Being (RWB): Sum of GR + HT (range: 16 to 96).
  • Spiritual Well-Being (SWB): Sum of FO + HI + CO + SM (range: 32 to 192).
  • Total MI-RSWB Score: Sum of all 48 items (range: 48 to 288), where higher scores denote higher religious/spiritual well-being and existential resilience.
• Administration Time: Approximately 10 to 15 minutes.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Multidimensional Inventory for Religious/Spiritual Well-Being was originally formulated in German by Human-Friedrich Unterrainer in 2005, with peer-reviewed validation studies published in 2010 and the standardized English version (MI-RSWB-E) published in 2012.

The inventory is published as an open-access instrument under Creative Commons licensing (CC BY 3.0 / CC BY 4.0) via the journal Religions (MDPI). The instrument is available free of charge for non-commercial academic, psychological, medical, and clinical research purposes. No formal permission fees are required for educational or non-profit research use, provided appropriate bibliographic attribution is given to the original authors. For commercial diagnostic applications, electronic health record integration, or corporate consulting, researchers must contact the lead author, Prof. Dr. Human-Friedrich Unterrainer.

References

• Alilu, M. M., Zarean, M., Beyrami, M., Hashemi, T., Elhami Asl, M., & Aayat Mehr, F. (2011). Psychometric properties of Farsi version of Multidimensional Inventory for Religious-Spiritual Well-Being (MI RSWB 48). Contemporary Psychology, 6(1), 23–36.
• Bahrami, F., Dadfar, M., Unterrainer, H.-F., & Zarean, M. (2014). Religious spiritual well-being in college students: A cross-cultural study. Shefaye Khatam, 2(1), 139–139.
• Dadfar, M., Bahrami, F., Sheybani Noghabi, F., & Askari, M. (2016). Relationship between religious spiritual well-being and death anxiety in Iranian elders. International Journal of Medical Research & Health Sciences, 5(6), 283–287.
• Unterrainer, H.-F. (2005). Spiritualität & psychische Erkrankung. Unpublished project grant proposal, Medical University of Graz, Department of Psychiatry, Graz, Austria.
• Unterrainer, H.-F. (2007). The concept of religious–spiritual well-being: The construction of a questionnaire and first results. Paper presented at the 2nd National Congress on Religious and Mental Health, Tehran Psychiatric Institute, Iran University of Medical Science, Tehran, Iran.
• Unterrainer, H.-F., Ladenhauf, K.-H., Moazedi, M. L., Wallner-Liebmann, S. J., & Fink, A. (2010). Dimensions of religious/spiritual well-being and their relation to personality and psychological well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 49(3), 192–197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.03.032
• Unterrainer, H.-F., Nelson, O., Collicutt, J., & Fink, A. (2012). The English version of the Multidimensional Inventory for Religious/Spiritual Well-Being (MI-RSWB-E): First results from British college students. Religions, 3(3), 588–599. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel3030588
• Unterrainer, H.-F., Lewis, A. J., Collicutt, J., & Fink, A. (2013). Religious/spiritual well-being, coping styles, and personality dimensions in people with substance use disorders. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 23(3), 204–213. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508619.2012.714999

Items of the Scale